It's Not Easy
by future consequences
Summary: What would life be like if your mother is a Charmed One? It involves pop quizes, darklighter attacks, ghosts, new powers and you hope beyond hope that it might involve a boyfriend. Phoebe's daughter Patty knows that it isn't easy...
1. Family Emergency

**It's Not Easy**

**Chapter 1: Family Emergency**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Charmed. I do, however, own the characters I have invented. **

Patricia Halliwell was bored. She was always bored at school, but today, it was excruciating. The teacher droned on, but Patricia didn't take in a word. She tried to pay attention, but what the teacher was teaching meant nothing to her. She had never wanted to take the stupid class in the first place. World History wasn't going to help her later on in life. All Patricia ever wanted to be was a witch; nothing more and nothing less.

She wanted to go to Magic School, but her mother, Phoebe Halliwell, would not hear of it. Her mother still clung to the hope that she could have a normal life. Patricia, or Patty, as most of the world called her, was far from normal. She was the daughter of a Charmed One who fought demons on a regular basis. At only 13 years old, she had not only accepted her destiny, but embraced it. She loved being a witch, and she wished her mother could just accept that.

Mr. Farrow, the teacher, continued on with his lecture. Patty didn't even know what it was about anymore. She began to nod off…

"We will now be having a pop quiz", Mr. Farrow said briskly.

Patty certainly was awake now. She looked around the class in panic. All of her classmates seemed disappointed, but none looked as panicked as she was sure she did. She risked a glance at her cousin Grace who sat in the front of the classroom. Grace looked calm and even a little excited. There was no surprise there. Grace had always loved school and got straight As. Patty's grades left a little to be desired. Despite their differences, Patty and Grace were best friends.

The test papers were handed out, and most of the students had already begun writing. Patty nervously turned over the paper and glanced at the first question. She tried to figure out the answer on her own, but her brain drew a complete blank. She cast a furtive glance at Megan, the smartest girl at Baker Middle School.

_'This is so easy', _Megan thought_, "The first one is obviously May 27, 1872."_

Patty felt slightly guilty at using her power of telepathy for her own gain. This, however, was a matter of academic life and death! If she failed another pop quiz she would fail the class. She didn't want to have to do the stupid. She scribbled down the first answer and was about to listen for the rest when a stern voice in her own head interrupted her.

_"Patty, that's cheating. If you don't stop that, I'm telling your mother', _the stern voice of her cousin Grace reprimanded.

Patty had almost forgotten that Grace was a telepath as well. She knew she couldn't continue her new method of "learning" under Grace's watchful eye. She sighed and tried to get back to her usual method of random guessing. The next few questions were multiple choice, so she only had to circle random letters. The final question was an essay style question, and Patty had no clue what to write. She couldn't just skip it, it was worth too much.

Patty fiddled with the necklace she always wore, which was a sure sign that she was nervous. It was an exquisite silver necklace with a triquetra pendant. It made her feel connected to her family, the triquetra being the symbol on their Book of Shadows. Her mother got her that necklace for her 10th birthday. That necklace was her most treasured possession. She picked up the pendant and twirled it in her fingers. The moment her fingers touched the triquetra, her body convulsed as her mind was thrown into a terrifying premonition.

She saw the living room of the Manor, looking as calm as ever. Aunt Paige and Cousin Penny. Dozens of darklighters dark orbing, encircling them. Trying to orb. Doesn't work. Paralyzed. Fear, panic. The darklighters shoot. Falling to the ground. Blood. Can't breath, can't escape. Hurts so much. Need help. Dying. Darkness.

As quickly as it began, the premonition ended. Patty was terrified. She would never let her Aunt Paige or Penny die. It took her a moment to realize she was shaking. She looked around the relatively mundane reality of the classroom. No one, not even Grace, had noticed her trance like state during her premonition. They were all busy with the test. She had to get to the Manor. Now.

_"Grace, we need to get home right away", _she said telepathically to her cousin.

_"What is it?" _Grace asked urgently. She was shocked at the absolute panic in her cousin's telepathic message.

_"Aunt Paige and Penny are in trouble. We need to get home", _Patty thought hurriedly

"_How do we go without anybody noticing?"_

"_Freeze them and we'll orb out. We have to risk it. If we don't go now, they'll die!"_

Without question, Grace raised her hands and flicked her wrists. Their entire class, except of course Patty and Grace, got up and made their way to the front of the class, careful not to bump into any frozen classmates. Grace grabbed Patty's hand so they could orb out together. Before they could orb, Patty told her cousin, "It was darklighters. You need to be careful." Grace shrugged, indicating that she was not afraid. The two cousins disappeared I a swirl of blue-white lights.

They reappeared in the Manor's living room. It was there that they saw their aunt Paige and Paige's daughter Penny arguing. For the moment, they were fine.

"Grace, Patty what are you doing here? Patty what's wrong?" their aunt Paige asked quickly. She hadn't failed to notice that Patty's face was chalk white. She also noticed that her niece was shaking. Patty was still terrified about the premonition that she had had.

Patty said, "Aunt Paige, I was at school where I had a premonition and I saw…" She was interrupted by the circle of darklighters that dark orbed around them, trapping them. "Darklighters", Patty finished lamely.

As a single until, the darklighters cross-bows materialized, and they took aim. Patty tried to charge at them, but she found she couldn't move. None of her family moved either. They all appeared to be paralyzed.

"How are you doing this?" Patty asked, in a tone she hoped sounded menacing.

"We had some help", said the nearest darklighter grinning. Patty felt totally useless. She was powerless to do anything. The darklighter who had spike shot his cross-bow. The darklighter on his left and on his right shot as well. One arrow hit Grace in the abdomen, another embedded itself into Paige's side and the third hit Penny in the arm. One by one, they crumpled to the ground. This seemed to lift the paralysis spell they were under. Patty rushed to their sides instantly. They all looked pretty bad. Someone with healing powers had to get there immediately.

"Uncle Kyle! Uncle Leo! Wyatt!" Patty called, glancing upwards. No one appeared. Her gaze flew wildly around the room, desperately searching for some way to heal them. She then realized that one of the darklighters was still there.

"No one will come. They cannot hear you", the darklighter said menacingly. With that, he disappeared in a puff of black smoke.

"Anyone!" she yelled. No one came. The darklighter was right. Her aunt and her cousins were dying, and Patty was all alone…

**TBC…**


	2. Half Breeds

**Chapter 2: Half Breeds**

**A/N: Well, here's my update. I have a few chapters written out, so I'll update again when I've gotten enough reviews. I do not own Charmed. Thanks to those who reviewed. **

**Nynth: Glad you like it! I'm afraid you don't know the things you're wondering until a little later. Everything in my story is connected, so you might eventually be able to figure it out for yourself. **

**Oracle85: Here's your update!**

**TVCrazed: I love it too! You don't have to wait anymore. **

Not for the first time, Paige and her 11 year old daughter Penny were arguing. It seemed like argue was all they did anymore. Penny was only 11, yet she was already behaving like a rebellious teen. As recently as last week, Paige had caught her trying to sneak out at midnight. Today, the argument was because Penny was not in class, although she was supposed to be. Penny was skipping class again. Normally no one was home to catch her. Today, she forgot her mom had taken off work. When she opened the door her mother was waiting for her. Penny was in big trouble now.

"Penelope Prudence Ruth Brody, what are you doing home?" her mother shouted the moment she opened the door.

Penny cringed. It was never a good sign when her mother used her full name. Sometimes she felt that her mother had given her two middle names just to yell at her. The again, her little sister Prue had two middle names and Prue was rarely yelled at. Her baby sister could do no wrong. So, she supposed that it was just her that her mother yelled at, middle names or not.

Penny was about to offer a rebuttal, when she was cut short by the sight of orbs in the room.

Her cousins Grace and Patty orbed into the room. They too were supposed to be at school. Her mother could not ignore this piece of evidence and yell at only her. Her mother noticed Patty and Grace too. Patty began to tell Paige about the premonition she had. When she reached the part about the darklighters, Penny felt her blood run cold. They all saw dark orbs form around them.

Dark orbs only meant one thing, darklighters. Out of all the fearsome beasts that she had ever faced, darklighters frightened Penny the most. Darklighters had a specifically designed poison to cause a slow and painful death for whitelighters. Being ¾ whitelighter, they weren't her best pals. There were at least half a dozen forming a menacing line behind her mother.

The one in front fired, the arrows aimed at her, her mother and Grace. Penny felt a sharp pain in her arm as the arrow hit. She felt the poison immediately begin to take effect. The wooziness and weakness seeped throughout her whole body. Penny felt the blackness creep to the edges of her consciousness. Her vision was going fuzzy. She was falling into the gathering darkness…

Patty rushed from one victim to the next. She had already pulled the arrows from her aunt and her cousins. They lay snapped in half along the walls. For the first few minutes, she tried calling for help. No one came, and she couldn't get to the phone. She was trapped in that room. Patty was panicking now. There seemed to be nothing she could do. Patty couldn't even get to the Book of Shadows to research an antidote.

Deprived of magical methods of healing, she tried more mortal means. Patty found an old blanket, and ripped off a portion. She pressed it on each of the wounds, doing her best to apply pressure to stop the bleeding. What she really needed was the first aid supplies. But those were kept in the first floor washroom. She had once tried to leave the room. She was thrown backwards by an invisible force field the moment she reached the threshold of the door. She was trapped. She was stuck in this room.

Now Patty was really panicking. She had to do something, and she had to do it now. Penny's breathing was swallowed and labored, Grace had lost consciousness, and her aunt Paige was sweating profusely. Patty knew she didn't have much time to save them. Soon they would be dead. She needed to think of a spell or something. In a flash, she got it. Her mother had told her about a time, many years ago, when her aunt Piper had healed her uncle Leo by switching their powers. The day after she heard the story, she had looked up the spell in the Book of Shadows.

Patty was almost smiling now. She had an excellent memory for spells, and she happened to remember that particular spell word for word. She walked to her aunt's side, since Paige was the only one with the ability to heal. Her aunt was in pretty bad shape.

"Hey", said Paige weakly, "how's Penny? Is she okay?" A faint crease of worry appeared above Paige's sweating brow. Even with her own life in danger, Paige was only thinking of her daughter's safety.

"Not really", Patty replied sadly. As much as it hurt her to say it, her aunt needed to hear the truth. Patty said, "There is hope. The only way to heal you is for us to switch powers." Paige looked grim, but she understood that there was no other way. Paige nodded her head, which told Patty it was ok to say the spell. She cleared her throat nervously. After a deep breath, she began the spell.

"_What's mine is yours,_

_What's yours is mine, _

_Let our powers cross the line. _

_I offer up my gift to share,_

_Switch our powers through the air."_

There was a white glow over her and her aunt Paige. She looked at the wound in her aunt's side and shuddered. It really looked bad. Patty placed her hands over the wound, flinching slightly. "Come on, heal! Work, damn you!" Patty muttered, looking at her hands. Nothing was happening. Tears burned in the corner of Patty's eyes.

"Please help me", Patty said to no one in particular. She looked to her aunt Paige for guidance on what to do, but Paige was in no condition to help. Her aunt's breathing became shallow and much more labored. "I love you Aunt Paige", she whispered, "Please don't leave me." A tear fell onto her hand and both her hands began to glow a dazzling gold.

Without hesitating, she put her hands over her aunt's wound. Patty didn't dare think about what was happening to her cousins. As soon as her aunt was healed she would heal her cousins. She felt the healing power wash through her. The wound began to close and then the blood began to disappear. As soon as the power began working, she knew something was wrong.

The wound was slowly closing, and Paige was slowly getting better. That was to be expected. The strange thing was that as Paige grew stronger, Patty grew weaker. As the healing power poured out of her, weakness seeped through her body. Patty would've liked nothing more than to fall into the darkness at the edge of her brain.

The wound in Paige's chest closed up, and all of the blood disappeared. At that moment she braced herself. The world began to spin around her. Her arms and legs felt like lead and her head spun. In one sickening second, everything went black…

**TBC…**

**Up next… Chapter 3: Hero's Journey**


	3. Hero's Journey

**Hero's Journey**

**A/N: Sorry for the long wait. I had this chapter written, I just couldn't get around to typing it. I love you lovely reviewers. Enjoy! And please R&R. **

When Patty groggily opened her eyes, she had no idea where she was. The ground beneath her was soft and comfortable. She slowly pulled herself in a sitting position and surveyed her surroundings. She was sitting on what appeared to be fluffy white clouds. The sky above her was the clearest of blues. She couldn't see anyone around.

Patty wondered where she was, and more importantly, how she had gotten there. She jumped up when she felt a warm hand on her shoulder. Patty spun around to face a woman she had never me, but only seen in photographs. Her aunt Prue had died several years before she was born. Prue was looking at her and smiling serenly, wearing a long white dress.

"Aunt P - Prue?" Patty stammered, "Wh – where am I? Am…am I dead?"

Prue looked at her kindly. "You're not dead sweetie. You're just on…a journey of sorts", Prue said softly. She offered a pale slender hand to her niece. Patty took it and stood beside the aunt she never knew.

"The elders sent me to speak with you for a reason", Prue said, beginning to walk along the clouds. Patty had to hurry to keep up with her. Prue continued, "I don't really know what that reason is. Is there anything that you want to talk about?"

Patty hesitated. She thought about her love for magic. She though about her mother, and the distance that was growing between them. She thought about how she despised the thought of a normal life because she was so far from normal. Patty didn't really want to share any of this with her aunt. They had just met and she hadn't shared this with anybody. Nevertheless, she felt it all pouring out.

Prue was a great listener. She let Patty tell her all of her problems. Not once did she interrupt. When Patty was finished, she pulled her niece into a hug. "Did you tell your mother about this?" Prue asked. Patty mutely shook her head. "Phoebe would want to know how you feel, and she'll listen", said Prue.

"It's just so hard", Patty whispered.

"I know", Prue said, "But you have to try." Prue smoothed out Patty's dark brown hair as her mother used to do when she was younger. Patty felt strangely comforted.

"Thanks", the young girl told her deceased aunt.

"I want to show you something", Prue said suddenly. She sat down on the fluffy ground, and Patty followed suit. Prue waved her hand, and a large screen appeared, almost like a television. "I watch sometimes", Prue explained. Patty and Prue watched what their family on earth was doing.

They were all gathered in the living room. Her mom, her aunts Piper and Paige, her uncles Kyle and Leo, Wyatt, Chris, Grace, Penny, little Prue, Sam and even her grandpa were all gathered around an unconscious form in the center of the room. They were gathered around her.

All those with whitelighter blood were trying to heal Patty. The glow coming from their hands was so bright that it was blinding. It was no use. Patty would not wake. Patty saw her mother pacing back and forth, not far from the healers. Phoebe was biting her nails, which was something she only did when she was extremely worried or anxious.

"Why isn't it working?" Phoebe asked anxiously. "She's not…I mean she isn't…" She left the grim sentence unfinished. Everyone knew what she meant.

"She's not dead Phoebe", Leo said gravely. "I don't know what's wrong with her."

Prue waved her arms once again, and the image of their family disappeared. Patty realized that she mattered to each and every one of them. "Thank you Aunt Prue", Patty said solemnly. Both of them now had tears in their eyes. Prue had helped Patty to realize that she had her family's unconditional love, just as they had hers.

"I need to tell you something before you leave", Prue said, her tone becoming serious. "You need to tell your mother this. You won't understand it, but she will. Cole's back, and her found out about the only secret she ever kept.

Patty had no idea what her aunt was talking about. She could tell, however, that whatever it was, it was serious. As far as she could remember, her mother had never mentioned anyone named Cole before. She had also never been able to keep a secret, as far as Patty knew. Patty promised her aunt Prue that she would deliver the message.

Prue was getting a bit teary eyed now. She knew it was time for her niece to go, and she wished they could spend more time together. Prue missed so much since she died. She greatly missed her sisters, and the nieces and nephews she never got to know.

"You have to go now", Prue told Patty. "Tell them I love them and I'm always watching over them."

Patty nodded, too teary eyed up to speak. Prue and the cloud filled atmosphere began to fade.

"Blessed Be", Prue whispered before she disappeared from view.

"Blessed be", said Patty into nothingness. She knew that her aunt could hear her. Prue could always here her.

Patty opened her eyes and saw that she was back in the living room. Her family was still gathered around her. Patty sat up quickly, so quickly that she got a head rush. Her mother ran to her and embraced her tightly.

"What happened Patty?" Phoebe asked quickly.

"I saw aunt Prue", Patty said softly. They all gasped. Piper even began to cry.

"How is she? Did you like her?"

"She was great. And she's fine. She wanted me to tell you guys that she loves you and she's watching over you", Patty said with a smile. Patty didn't really know how to tell them the other thing. Although she didn't understand it, she knew that it was important.

Her mother seemed to notice her internal battle, because she asked, "Patty, what's wrong?"

Patty took a deep breath and decided to tell her. "She also told me to tell you that Cole's back, and he knows about the only secret that you ever kept."

The reaction was not at all what Patty had expected. While the children looked bewildered, all the adults were shocked. Her mother had gotten very pale. "Patty and I need to be alone", Phoebe said. Piper and Paige understood completely. They ushered the children out of the room. Patty could hear her cousins Penny and Prue loudly complaining from the other side of the house.

Patty was utterly bewildered. What could be so important that her mother wanted to have a big talk about. "Maybe you should sit down", Phoebe said hesitantly. Patty sat down on a comfy armchair, and her mother sat across from her.

"You remember how I told you your father's name was Jason Dean?" Phoebe asked.

Patty merely nodded. She had never met her father, as she had been told he died when she was a baby. Because of that, her mother had told her stories about her father Jason for as long as she could remember.

"Well, I lied", Phoebe said softly.

Patty was shocked. Everyone in the world knew that Phoebe Halliwell could not tell a lie to save her life.

Phoebe took a deep breath and said, "Let me tell you about your real father. His name was Cole Turner…"

**TBC…**


End file.
